Vonia Happy Together (Chinese: Chun gwong cha sit) (1997) Doyle's camera, Blur, slow down, upside down, Cut, pan, tilt, track, zoom Cinematography dream. Artful shots and scenes, Magic with Wong's direction. Two lovelorn lost souls Wandering Argentina, Not much else for plot, Still manages to take us On hypnotic ride. Like the waterfall they seek From the lamp they bought, This ode to loneliness shows Downfall of their love, From the boldly sexual start To the truthful end. Title's complete opposite, As Lai Yiu-fai says, "Lonely people... all the same." Sorrowful Apart. Despite aesthetic merits, Failed to capture me. Never really cared for them, Lacked necessary Character development, Not enough substance, Aside from a few key scenes, Ideally watched in background. Choka (long poem) is an epic storytelling form of poetry from the Waka period, an unrhymed poem with the 5-7-5-7-5-7-5-7...7 syllable format (any odd number line length with alternating five and seven syllable lines that ends with an extra seven syllable line). #Choka #PoemReview

Davalon-Davalon I am at an absolute loss as to why this film is getting 10s and winning festivals. This "story" is a mish-mashed mess of sloppily shot scenes, poorly cut, about two people that it was nearly impossible to care anything about. I do not know what the point or purpose of this movie was. If writer/director Kar- Wai Wong thought he was showing us how difficult love can be, he definitely hit upon a theme. And IF he had made us care about these two irritating, strange, selfish people, it might have had an impact, despite how sloppily it was put together. Lai Yiu-fai (Tony Leung) is the only one of the two that seemed to have a sense of responsibility and seemed to understand the value of love and caring. Ho Po-wing (Leslie Cheung) seemed to be more interested in goading Fai into arguments, hanging on him, wanting love, or money, or whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, without earning a single moment of it. I hated him. I couldn't understand what his source of anger was. Did he think money fell out of the sky? Did he think a nutritious meal was a box of cigarettes? Did he think that having sex with whoever he wanted to was going to "endear" him to Fai? If he had shown a MOMENT of sensitivity (other than the completely fake one at the end where he "cries" over Fai's blanket), I might've been on his team. But I found him repulsive. I believe the Cantonese language was used (not Mandarin), but I am sure there must be something more beautiful about it than what was heard in this movie. No matter what was said, it sounded like a complaint. The main couple always seemed miserably unhappy. There is one scene where they dance some kind of faux-tango in a horrible dingy kitchen. In this ONE SCENE there is the sense of love between these two and that SOMEHOW they belong together. But since the rest of the movie is spent screaming at each other, throwing fists into walls, pushing each other down, knocking cigarettes off shelves, cheating on each other, lying to each other, hurting each other... I just couldn't care. This is the second time I've seen this. The first time was years ago, because it was a "gay film" and feature-length gay films were hard to come by. I saw it a second time because I had just seen Kar-Wai's "I'm in the mood for love" -- which I found to be sensual and beautiful and erotic. "Happy Together" showed that Tony Leung is a wonderful actor with a lot of gifts. He outshone everyone in it. I also thought that he was totally believable as a conflicted gay man. But the problem is: the film only HINTED at how good it could have been. It was really not a story. It was snippets or peeks into the miserable, somewhat pointless existence of these two unhappy men, and it wasn't done well. I don't know what people are raving about. Kar-Wai has a unique talent, but he didn't really put it to good use in this rambling mess.

Josh Cooper Happy Together reviewHappy Together has a pretty basic plot, but gets more twisted and heartbreaking as it goes along. It tells the story of Fair and Po, gay couple who go on a 'getaway' into the urban life of Argentina that on the way discovers the deep emotions obetween one another. Basically, Yiu- Fai and Po-Wing arrive in Argentina from Hong Kong and take to the road for a holiday. Something is wrong and their relationship goes adrift. A disillusioned Yiu-Fai starts working at a tango bar to save up for his trip home. When a beaten and bruised Po-Wing reappears, Yiu-Fai is empathetic but is unable to enter a more intimate relationship.Lost souls, lonely, longing, and lovelorn, are staples in the Wong Kar-Wai universe. His best works uncannily portray the beauty and misery of being struck by love and its multiple variations and illusions. His fluid, script-free, improvisational style of work is now legendary and applies well to the unpredictable nature of this subject matter while giving his works a raw, open-ended quality. "Happy Together" is quite probably his rawest work to date and, as a result, one of the most difficult to watch The rawness makes it seem organic. It feels as if it's an ever-evolving creature which hides and exposes its multiple facets with each different viewing. Wong successfully created this tension by hiring some of Hong Kong's best actors. They carried themselves with the greatest of comfort and control. I felt as if I knew these characters by the end of the film. I felt as if I had gone through a similar struggle as they did. These two men challenged the idea of "normal" relationships, yet kept their personas simple, human, and intense. You could not help but feel emotion for these two, even if you did not like the story. They kept the tones light when they needed to be, then brought you deep within the rabbit hole when the darkness erupted. The final scenes of this film are fascinating to watch, and I had to see them again. The downfall of Yiu-fai into a role similar to Po-wing was heartbreaking, yet stunning. Here we have two men who I thought were complete opposites from the beginning, yet somehow, to quote Wong, "Turns out that lonely people are all the same.""Happy Together" is one of those films that I do not really enjoy watching. It is actually physically painful to watch because it hurts the eye as much as it hurts the soul. The films style blends perfectly with the characters performances and the situations they have to undergo. I would recommend this film to anyone who enjoys the surreal style of film which Wong crafts successfully. 7/10

MELBOURNEgeek From Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai,the writer and director of the highly regarded CHUNG KING EXPRESS (CHONGQING SENLIN), comes HAPPY TOGETHER (CHEUN GWONG TSA SIT). HAPPY TOGETHER tells the story of a gay Chinese couple in Buenos Aires, Argentina, who are anything but happy. The story, to the extent there is any, consists of a series of vignettes about their petty fights.In this two person drama Leslie Cheung Kwok-Wing plays Ho Po-Wing and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai plays Lai Yiu-Fai. Leslie was last seen in TEMPTRESS MOON (FENG YUE) and Tony in CYCLO (XICH LO). Both are quite capable actors, but the parts they are given in HAPPY TOGETHER almost dares the audience to care. Their lifeless performances are right in line with Wong's dreadfully dull screenplay.Although the movie contains some of the most graphic homosexual scenes I've encountered, the actors present no passion or love during them with the result that the scenes are coldly antiseptic.Most of the movie has them arguing with each other, complaining about the lack of jobs in Argentina and living a life of poverty in their (literally) flea-bag room. Never is the narrative interesting and rarely are the characters the least bit compelling.The picture has a single saving grace. The cinematography by Christopher Doyle punctuates the otherwise uninvolving scenes with fascinating images. Although Doyle's work in HAPPY TOGETHER is not nearly as good as his stunning work in TEMPTRESS MOON, he enlivens an otherwise tedious picture. Using both oversaturated black-and-white sequences and lush color ones, he keeps the audience's attention even when the story doesn't. One evocative scene has our two lonely leads stranded on the highway. Shooting from a distance, the black-and-white highway seems as infinite as Tony and Lai's troubles. Another scene is shot from high above the city streets. Using color at night and a strobe effect, the cars dart around the turns like colored rats in a maze."Turns out that normal people are all the same," concludes Lai. Similarly, the movie HAPPY TOGETHER has a dreary sameness to each of its vignettes, only the handsome cinematography saves it from being an unwatchable, boring film.HAPPY TOGETHER seems to go on forever but its running time is actually only 1:37. The picture is in Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles. The film is not rated but would get an R for nudity, profanity, violence and graphic sex. The film is not appropriate for teenagers.